Lobbyists Cancel `Mcdome` Weekend

October 27, 1990|By John McCarron and Rick Pearson.

A government watchdog group claimed victory Friday after learning that lobbyists for ``McDome`` have canceled plans to invite state lawmakers to Chicago for an expenses-paid November weekend of fancy hotels, fine food, and Bears football.

But boosters of a plan to enlarge the McCormick Place convention center and build a domed stadium insisted that there was nothing illegal about the free weekend. The only reason it was canceled, they said, is to prevent the project`s opponents from turning it into a political sideshow.

``Some people wanted to focus attention on the weekend rather than the merits of the project,`` said James Reilly, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, which runs McCormick Place.

The Nov. 9-11 weekend in Chicago was to be sponsored not by the authority but by the Illinois Leadership Coalition, a private group of business and labor leaders formed to promote the project. Reilly said the authority and the coalition will make their presentation to the legislature in Springfield. Next month, during the fall veto session, lawmakers likely will be asked to approve an $80 million-a-year McDome tax package. The $1.3 billion project would include the doubling of McCormick Place and construction of a domed stadium for Bears games and other mass assemblies.

Two weeks ago, after the Tribune disclosed plans for the weekend, a watchdog group called Common Cause issued a public denunciation of the event. The group said the weekend would violate a state ethics law that forbids lawmakers to accept gifts worth more than $100 from anyone seeking to influence a vote.

Reilly insisted that no law would have been broken.

This week, after several legislators expressed reservations about the potential political fallout, the Leadership Coalition canceled the event.

Judith Erwin, a spokeswoman for Senate President Philip Rock (D-Oak Park) agreed with Reilly that the weekend would not have violated the ethics law.

She said lawmakers routinely are entertained by lobbyists or invited to speak at out-of-town conventions where they receive honorariums and reimbursement for travel, food and lodging.

``It was informational,`` Erwin said of the planned weekend. ``There was no expectation that they were going to vote one way or the other.``